"MS would be best off not suing under the DMCA, seeing as the SCOTUS was pretty firm in the Lexmark case about the DMCA not extending to interaction between components."
Interesting thought, but wrong IMHO. The DMCA is protected not only by DRM these days, but also by the US PAtriot Act. Microsoft doesn't need to sue someone who sets up a website that publishes DRM cracks any more. The same C&D letter to the website administrator can now be CCed to the DoJ, who will use criminal "conspiracy to commit" charges (or worse). The current regime in power is in lockstep with the **AA in regarding copyright violators to be (practically speaking) "terrorists".
"But I don't think we'll ever find something that is just "perfect", more of a never ending quest to find the better one, and to stay on top of all the ones from the past."
Actually, there is. In the "hardware" world of electronic circuit design, there has been a migration toward machine-designed circuits based upon AI software. VHDL (Very Highlevel Definition Language), used to define programmable chips as well as PCBs, has evolved -- look at the "SystemC" project.
It is not too great a "reach" to predict that software design will follow the same roadmap. Given enough CPU power, program and data storage space for the software to function properly (which gets cheaper & better every year), machine-designed software using AI will replace (most of) that of human programmers. Once the current trend of offshore outsourcing "mundane" programming projects becomes too expensive due to rising Indian and Chinese wage pressure, the AI machines will take over. It is IMHO inevitable.
Software debugging will become far too complex for mere human intervention, so the AI machines will handle all of that as well. "Humans make mistakes, machines do not" will become the new project management mantra. But the joke will be on them, because even project management positions will be at risk.
Well, it isn't as if such things have not happened before, particularly with Lockheed-Martin as NASA's contractor. I seem to recall that a previous $250 Million USD Mars orbital probe was turned into Mars "deep geological probe" when the units of measurement (Imperial & metric, or SI & metric?) were mixed between the flight and orbital software routines. Different software functions built by different sub-projects without adequate overall engineering management was apparently to blame. NASA's management should have caught the error even if Lockheed-Martin management didn't.
Hopefully, that particular embarassing lesson will not need to be re-learned.
Of course the university is connected with the bookstore -- the university IS ALWAYS connected with the bookstore -- it is yet another source of revenue, not unlike the percentage the university takes from all payphones on campus. As a geographic and organizational entity, the university decides which vendors are allowed on campus.
In academia, particularly university academia, there is great pressure to either write, or contribute to, the textbooks and course material used -- hence the tenet "Publish or perish!". A large number of teaching professors do write their own course material, and the university bookstore is the primary distribution point for their work. The professor makes money, the university makes money, the bookstore makes money, and the publisher makes money. Considering the quantity of each textbook published, is it any wonder that a student can easily spend 25% of his/her annual tuition on textbooks and course materials?
A switch from printed books to e-books might make environmental sense as well as economic sense, if only there was no 5 month TTL (time to live) and EULA. And considering the difference in cost between the two formats, a mere 33% discount is legalized extortion (or highway robbery, but without the mask).
"I think most economists would say a gas tax (or more generally, a carbon tax) is the most efficient way to spur adoption of renewable energy sources. Otherwise, you're hoping the government can pick technological winners and losers."
Gee, I wonder which part of the energy industy you are lobbying for? (!OIL + !CARBON + RENEWABLE) = (H2 + NUCLEAR)
Since you don't care for any additional funding to American farmers or agribusiness, and favor a "carbon tax", renewable energy such as ethanol/methanol/biodiesel would not be in your option list. A non-carbon H2-based energy economy must rely, based upon unit energy cost, on nuclear power plants to generate the electricity necessary to split H2O. Currently, most H2 production in the USA is based upon cracking petroleum rather than using nuclear poweered electrolysis, due to the costs involved.
Widespread use of solar energy, such as PVs (PhotoVoltaics), is not a viable substitute in the USA because it is too "populist" -- eliminating centralized control of energy is not in the best interests of the big energy companies. This is also why the Bush Energy Bill focuses most resources on more nuclear power plants and centralized H2 energy distribution.
The single biggest problem with nuclear energy, that has ALWAYS existed with nuclear energy, is how to dispose of the highly toxic radioactive waste that will continue to threaten the environment for 50,000 years. The current regime in power is not troubled by such issues, because they are focused on short- and mid-term profits and not long term liabilities. (IMHO, they are also counting on the "2nd Coming" to make the disposal of nuclear waste a non-issue.) More nuclear plants also means more nuclear waste, as well as more sensitive targets for the growing terrorist threat.
The very thing that Dubya&Co objected to regarding the Kyoto Accords -- placing an untenable drag on the USA economy due to much higher alternative energy costs -- would also be caused by a "carbon" tax and a rapid switch to a nuclear/H2 energy paradigm.
Which is why the Dubya regime themselves basically "ratted-out" their real goals regarding the "war on terror". The USA put 140,000 troops into Iraq, which has lots of oil but had very little linkage to terrorism, but would not put 2,000 more US Border Patrol on the USA's borders to limit the incursion of terrorists mingled in with the flood of illegal aliens. The 9-11 Commission recommended 2,000 more USBP, but Dubya requested funding for only 200 more agents. Even Dubya's allies in the US Congress agreed with the findings of the 9-11 Commission.
While the USA is busy breaking international treaties left and right (Geneva Conventions, Non-Militarization of Space, the ABM Treaty), we are unabashedly militaristic in our enforcement of the UN Non-Proliferation Treaty in the DPRK (North Korea) and the IRI (Islamic Republic of Iran). How could that possibly be considered hippocritical?
"I can't say the same for Fahrenheit 9/11, for example. Perhaps it is important for the number of people it reached for whom its ideas were new, I'll grant that. But to the informed and interested viewer, it was little more than a rehash of world events through the prism of Moore's crazed psyche."
Certainly, you have every right right to your perspective. Considering that the term "crazy" is a subjective comparison to what society considers a "norm", one might also draw the conclusion that those who would have been considered "crazy" only a generation or two ago are now in charge, not unlike the story about the patients taking over the madhouse.
Not one of the video clips included in the documentary "Fahrenheit 9-11" were "doctored up", including those of then NSC Advisor Condi Rice or of VP Dick Cheney being quoted as saying "... that Saddam Hussein (of Iraq) did not have and could not get WMD because the USA and the UN had such a stranglehold embargo on Iraq...". And it is now apparent that the Dubya regime cooked the intel on Iraqi WMD as their first and primary justification for our illegal invasion, war, and subsequent occupation (by UN standards) there. In a "crazy" turn of events, it also now looks like, after the USA's 2-1/2 year occupation of Iraq, Rice and Cheney's quotes in those video clips were absolutely correct, since no WMD have every been found.
The entire Dubya regime position about "bringing freedom and democracy to Iraq" was a major flip-flop from the position that this regime had embraced to justify this war to begin with. Which helps the reader to understand why the Bush regime did not have a cogent plan for subsequently either "winning the peace" or "reconstruction and pacification" in Iraq.
Osama bin Laden is still on the loose and causing trouble. The Dubya regime illegally stripped money and materials earmarked by Congressional budgetary process for the war in Afghanistan for the ramp-up to the war in Iraq. The GAO has discovered that more than $9 Billion USD has disappeared from funds earmarked for reconstruction in Iraq. And nearly 2 years after Saddam Hussein was captured, less than 15% of the money the Dubya regime claimed was necessary for reconstruction of infrastructure, and the creation of jobs for the Iraqi people, has been spent.
You don't suppose that these issues might have a bearing on the hostility that a majority of the Iraqi people have for our continued occupation there, as well as helping to push the country toward civil war?
And isn't one of the primary tenants of warfare the doctrine of "divide and conquer", which a full-blown civil war in Iraq would achieve?
Wouldn't the collapse of our puppet Iraqi government due to civil war bring new justification for the USA's continued (and long-term) military presence there?
Beyond (1) the geographic location and climate, and (2) the number of Americans KIA, in what discernable way is the Iraqi conflict so different from the Vietnam conflict of 40 years ago?
A film about emperor peguins cannot in any way be considered in the same league as a timely political ducumentary. I do note, however, that the major TV networks have focused a lot more on drudge "reality TV" programming, instead of devoting more time to exploring the real truth AND real-politik that effects everyone, like a soothing "soma" to placate the public.
Yes, but that really IS the point. The Dubya regime's loathing for non-politically correct (in their venue) science creates a spin that makes electricity from nuclear power plants pollution-free. Just like the conversion of hydrocarbon petroleum products into hydrogen for fuel cells is (NOT!) a viable long term solution, and an environmentally friendly advance in power technology.
The petroleum and nuclear power industries would like to thank you for continuing to support their monopoly status with your taxpayer dollars and consumer pocketbooks, as well as your failure to thoughtfully agitate for environmentally friendly and/or renewable energy sources.
Unfortunately, Huge-Ass Corporation already has the World Bank and the US government (NAFTA & CAFTA) on its side in this regard. Replacing municipal government services, such as water & sewer and road & facilities maintenence, with for-profit multinational corporate services is already on the agenda of every government beholden to the World Bank for their survival through loans. Forcing open competition for municipal services is the "not quite hidden in fine print" vigorish. The double-whammy to those same economies occurs when they are forced to accept American IP laws (like extended US patents on generic pharmacuticals) and the DCMA.
Of course, the Dubya regime already considers anyone who violates US copyright or IP patents to be terrorists. So any non-G8 member state that either encourages (or doesn't discourage) these violations can expect free extended vacations for their government officials or corporate lumenaries in such exotic locales as Guantanamo Bay, Egypt, Syria, or Turkey. The truth about Dubya's corporate national socialism sort of takes the wind out of the sails of those neo-Con(artists) that proclaim their love of, and dedication to, free enterprise.
The ONLY part of the Dubya regime that isn't run by completely brain-dead presidential appointees IS the Pentagon, which published a paper earlier this year that not only confirmed that global warming was real, but also has been trying to plan for the patrolling of the soon-to-be completely-devoid-of-ice Arctic Ocean.
They are, however, completely dependent upon the neo-Con(artists) in the Congress for funding, so they are still on a tight leash. Unless there is a substantial public backlash against the Dubya regime in the 2006 mid-term elections, this nearly universal Dubya regime aversion to real science in particular, and the anti-intellectual climate in general, will continue to hamstring America's future scientific prowness, regardless of Pentagon efforts to the contrary.
Well, I would proffer one current example -- that of US Senator (and medical doctor) Frist -- but he is "damaged goods", having been corrupted by the neo-Con(artist) agenda of "Intelligent Design", "Faith-based (Welfare) Initiatives", and "Better Business Through Government Welfare". That, and his "Save Brain-dead Teri Shivo At Any Cost, Damned-to-Hell The Physicians Involved and The Conservative Judges Who Refuse To Be Activist-Conservative-Judges" initiative.
So, I guess you are correctamundo. You could say that the very worse thing to happen to American jurisprudence and the US Congress is the shear number of lawyers who are congress-critters.
I would place "loving Microsoft" right up there with "priests loving alterboys", "MJ loving little boys in PJs", the "leather & chains crowd loving S&M", and "Gollum loving the One Ring".
MSFT doesn't deserve "love" per say, but does deserve the respect one would give to a coiled rattlesnake, or to a stick of dynamite sweating nitroglycerin in the hot summer sun -- dangerous and unpredictable enough to threaten your (company's) health. MSFT is an unrepentant convicted monopolist with deep pockets, a battalion of lawyers, and owns (or rather leases) the ears of many a politician.
But, I guess there are a (very) few among the/. crowd that favor the adrenaline rush that comes with the danger of having sex in a public place. Just don't confuse love with sex, nor respect and admiration with business accomidation.
I'm sorry, but exactly which DHS server are you posting this from?
Even a delusional paranoid can be right, sometimes, that others are out to get him/her. One of the basic problems with liberty and open democracies is that they are reliant upon each other. The regime currently in power in the USA has shown an affinity for (1) ignoring international treaties and laws, (2) instituting draconian and repressive domestic laws (eg. US Patriot Act), and (3) embracing government secrecy (now SOP) as a cloak for all their policies and actions, even to the point of restricting Legislative and Judicial branch oversight. These are not the actions of a government sworn to preserve either liberty, open democracy, or the US Constitution.
That, in a nutshell, is why "The viewers of/. are becoming more and more conspiracy oriented each day." With good reason IMHO.
(Now, I have the perfect thing for both your "headache" and your lack of "paying attention" to events around you -- a 2x4 smack up between the eyes.)
Another way to look at this: From the perspective of law enforcement use of sections of the US Patriot Act, is that Rackspace could have furnished either (1) access_log_files or (2) a snapshot of the Indymedia servers, and no one in the public would have been aware of what happened. But, with Rackspace's more "conservative" interpretation of the requested information by law enforcement, the Indymedia servers were shut down and law enforcement "interest" became public knowledge.
Some elements of the US PAtriot Act are downright fascist stormtrooper tactics, and the threat of imprisonment for revealing aspects (or even the existance) of a government investigation fits that description to a "T". The question is: "Would you rather know about such events, or remain in ignorant bliss?"
And there came a great disturbance in the force -- as though millions of embedded applications were suddenly extinguished forever.
Well, thank goodness that there ARE other chipset OEMs to work with other processor OEMs. Intel(TM) is a silly rabbit to relinquish ANY part of their domain, because that is (invariably) where their next marketing threat will (HAS!) come from.
Intel(TM) rationale for such a move is bogus -- Intel and Microsoft (as monopolists) are not unlike a pulsar -- one (star) without the other (star) is just another boring (radio) source, without the (marketing?) glitz. And yes, MSFTs DRM and Intels TPM comprise the pulsar "star" that most consumers are predestined for...
Some while back, I was working as a sub-contractor to a contractor working at a government facility. Due to some needed new features and security holes, it was decided that all the Cisco routers would be upgraded to a new IOS. The work was scheduled for a weekend when the entire facility would "go quiet". The planning was immaculate -- with time alloted for each router IOS upgrade, time set aside for new IOS patches, and reloading the working data. Through some rather long weekend hours, the Cisco router upgrades went smoothly and efficiently. Only the lead technician (for security reasons) was to go around and reload the working data (router tables) -- which is when the most basic of problems rose up and bit this "weekend project" in the ass.
All the routers were then required to be rolled back to the old IOS, IOS patches, and the router tables reloaded until the following "long lost weekend". It turns out that the new Cisco IOS had a bigger memory footprint than the original, and with the new patches applied there was not enough memory to completely load the router tables.
Check the memory requirements of the new IOS, patches, and router tables prior to proceeding, and install more memory as needed. And if you are fortunate enough to have a spare router to test the upgrades on prior to the main rollout, test there first.
"What happened in this case was that a security firm tried to stop their employees from organizing by prohibiting them from meeting outside work. It has nothing at all to do with professionalism or the image of the company. The only reason for the rules was to stop workers from organizing."
Parent poster is right on target!
One needs only to look at what the Bush administration has done with the TSA (Transportation Security Administration). The security personnel that were hired for airport security, as Federal employees, have made repeated attempts to organize/unionize under the aspices of the Federal Employees Union. This has been resisted by the Bush administration in the DHS, the courts, and in the Congress by threats to "privatize" the TSA workforce to civilian government contractors. Which IMHO is a major mistake, since it has been private security contractors hired by the airports that repeatedly failed FAA security checks prior to 9/11/2001, even to the point of prohibiting FAA investigators from stepping foot on airport property.
The same administration attitude can be seen in the Bush White House budget for new US Border Patrol agents who are, by the way, already organized in a union. Bush requested money for 200 agents over the next five years, while a Congress sick of Dubya's "open borders" policies earmarked funds for an additional 2000 USBP agents.
Dubya seems to prefer a cornucopia of funds for defense industry contractors, but little for actually increasing the number of Federal employees. The focus on contractors' high tech solutions has resulted in a $500 Million USD scanner for seaport detection of nuclear materials that is best suited to detecting clay-based kitty litter. And UAV's drafted into temporary service by the USBP for detection of illegal aliens crossing our borders, but not for the "boots on the ground" for actually interdicting such incursions.
Most appropriately, the term "low broadband" should refer to the ADSL/DSL service offered by the telcos. Reliance (at least within the USA) of POTS wiring that the telcos refuse to guarantee beyond a 28.8 kbps for ADSL/DSL service is ridiculous. Factor in the distance from the telco's CO (Central Office), which cannot exceed 18,000 feet, and you have just defined the parameters for "low broadband", which in my experience can be a download speed as low as 75 kbps at the equivalent of an excessive price.
Every other ISP (besides the local telco) that has tried to offer me ADSL/DSL service gets asked the same question -- "If you are not running your own POTS wiring to my home, how can you guarantee any better bandwidth than what the telco offers (but also cannot deliver)?"
Unfortunately, "low broadband" is a term that has been spun (by ISPs) to mean the caching and compressing of websites on their proxy servers to give dial-up internet users the appearance of greater download speeds. BT, cvs, ftp and other file download protocols do not get sped up by this technology.
Okay, so this study was done in the UK. But the UK has (largely) adopted the USA's management style. Which is to say, those domestic IT jobs that have not already been offshore outsourced, or (IMHO even worse) filled by imported foreigners at lower wage and benefit level, face increased pressure to "do more with less" -- more hours and expanded job functions with less staffing and resources and wages.
Many of the USA's IT workers feel "unrequited love" for the work they do -- where IS the love? No doubt, many of the the UK's IT workers feel similarly.
Well, thank goodness that the US Supreme Court "elected" George W. Bush as President in 2000, since he "...is a uniter, not a divider".
And thank goodness that the illegal actions (Iran/Contra) and dirty political tricks (Watergate Breakin) of the Executive branch under previous Republican administrations has not been outdone 1000x over by the current regime in power.
And if no one talks about these issues in the press (letters to the editor), cannot publically protest without being arrested or shunted off away from the press, or all the publicized political "town meetings" guests have all been vetted as party loyalists, or that the foreign press pays more attention to the wrongdoings of the regime in power than the USA's consolidated corporate press -- hey, everybody will just calm down, sit in a circle holding hands, and singing "Kumba Ya", right?
The current regime in power is hurting America, and I would have little problem enumerating a rather long list from the top of my head. Discussing these issues does not make them worse IMHO, because democracy and love of liberty is aided by an open and public discussion. Supressing freedom of speech and the free exchange of ideas is the handmaiden of tyranny. Get a grip, and deal with it.
"But if they have evidence to justify such an imprisonment, then what possible excuse can there be for not putting him on trial with it?"
You have hit upon the crux of the situation. Many Arab-Americans and Arab legal residents of the USA were rounded up after 9/11/2001 as "material witnesses" -- IMHO a convenient catch-all to imprison, intimidate, and interrogate "persons of interest" without regard to the US Constitution's guarantees of citizens' rights. There is also no reason to believe that this is not still happening, albeit the techniques the Dubya regime employs have gotten more devious. Whisking "persons of interest" illegally out of the country to friendly nations where methods of interrogation not permitted under US law can be used has been adopted. Even the USA's NATO allies (eg. Italy) now consider certain of Dubya's intel agencies to be breaking their laws in this regard. Italy has drawn up a list of suspected CIA agents who were actively involved in the illegal kidnapping and deportation of an Arab cleric from Italy to (apparently) Egypt.
The Federal case against Jose Pedilla may not meet the evidentiary level of confidence to bring this "person of interest" to trial. Jose Pedilla might be providing the Dubya regime further information regarding the activities of terrorist networks within the USA and abroad, which would qualify him as a "material witness". A more cynical (tin hat brigade type) might consider the Dubya regime's treatment of Jose Pedilla as an issue too sensitive to prosecute, for fear of turning him into a counter-culture martyr.
The sketchy background information that was released to the press would indicate that Jose Pedilla is a Mexican-American who converted to radical Islam while serving time in prison for a felony conviction. Considering the number of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans living within the USA, and the policy agenda espoused by President George W. Bush (open borders, amnesty, guest-worker program, Social Security benefits for illegal aliens), prosecution of Jose Pedilla might expose the fallacy of those policies, as well as the potential to breed additional copycat (alleged) terrorist plots.
Those persons who do have enough information to make a more informed decision regarding the validity of the case against Jose Pedilla, or the possible reasons for holding him incommunicato without any publically scheduled judicial action are not talking -- at least to the press.
"Oh do stop panicing, this will be cracked, and easily, if it has not already been done."
Well, lets see. The new Intel processor & chipset that Apple will be using BOTH have TC/DRM capabilities. Ever try to use a 32-bit logic analyzer on a Wintel motherboard between the processor and the southbridge chip? Apple will make use of the Intel roadmap for 64-bit processors, and many of the data circuits will be on inner layers of the motherboard. Those persons capable of hacking the hardware DRM will own some very expensive hardware.
The real test for the extent to which Apple will impliment DRM will be whether they switch from OpenBoot, as used on todays PPC hardware, to Intel's EFI BIOS replacement. Intel can basically offer Apple the entire system chipset -- EFI, processor, south & north bridge chips, and their built-in video controller. Apple can make use of the Intel "solution" to lower hardware prices while increasing system speed (and profit margins).
The boot process may look like the following:
(1) EFI contains S/Ns of motherboard & chips (2) EFI validates hardware function/configuration (3) EFI checks date/time against stored values (4) EFI generates private RSA key (5) RSA key passed to TC chipset (6) EFI loads OS bootstrap (7) OS bootstrap compares kernel checksums against stored values, then loads OS (8) OS validates stored checksums for applications (9) OS validates media files for permissions (10) OS uses private RSA key to unlock media file
The DRM capabilities of the Intel solution will allow Apple to control not only applications and the various purchased media files, but will also permit iron-clad trial period or rental media control. As a content provider/distributor, why wouldn't Apple want to make content media easy for the consumer to use, and very difficult/impossible for the consumer to abuse? In what way would Apple not benefit their bottom line, as well as gain acceptance from the **IA for any/all content distribution?
Apple generally does what is best for Apple, rather than what is best for their customers. But you can be assured that they will do so with such panache that most of their customers will not mind. And their customers will definitely like higher performance hardware for a cheaper price, as usual.
"Actually the dramatic increase in illegals living in the US has been caused by implimenting your desires as stated above."
Sorry, but I am going to have to call this total bullshit. H. Ross Perot was absolutely, unequivocally correct when he stated that "...with the passage of NAFTA, Americans were going to hear a great sucking sound as jobs moved south." Every bit of the follow-on NAFTA provisions that would have helped "level the playing field", such as a guaranteed minimum wage, benefits, and proper environmental concerns were all ruled illegal by the WTO. Then Mexico defaulted on their World Bank and other foreign debt, which the USA (to avoid a revolution on our southern border) loaned/gave money to Mexico to bail them out. A number of the factories that moved to Mexico experienced some labor union organizing efforts, so the Mexican workers were fired and Chinese workers were imported. Others simply packed up and moved their factories to China.
The Clinton administration, in 2000, prosecuted over 300 American businesses for knowingly hiring illegal aliens. When Dubya took office, he pledged to MX President Fox that he would grant amnesty for illegal aliens, establish a worker visa program, and extend SS benefits to those granted amnesty. Even after 9/11/2001, Dubya continued to maintain the very same policy objectives (, including an open border). Post 9/11/2001, illegal immigration across (primarily) the USA's southern border increased by more than 33%. In 2003, the same year that the USA went to war in Iraq, the Dubya regime prosecuted only 13 employers for knowingly hiring illegal aliens, even though the number of illegal aliens within the USA jumped in five years from 14 million to over 20 million.
The Dubya regime likes illegal aliens. The jobs that American corporation don't offshore outsource, they are busy filling with L1-A and H1-B visa holders. The illegal aliens are filling the same function for low wage and blue collar jobs here. The purpose is (1) to destroy the labor unions, and (2) to force American wages low enough to compete with China and India.
The neo-Con(artists) that control the Executive and Legislative (and soon Judicial) branches of government continue to chip away at American civil liberties, proportedly to "fight terrorism". But they risk their political future AND their freedom by continuing to "play dumb" regarding the flood of illegal aliens across the USA's borders. The next major domestic terrorist attack will prove that their "war on terror" was a smokescreen. No terrorist would ever get away with using boxcutters to take control of a commercial aircraft again -- everybody now knows how to foil such an attack. Yet our borders and seaports remain largely unguarded, five years after "Saddam bin Laden" got the attention of our leaders. Their failure to act promptly and decisively to safeguard this country's safety and sovereignty in favor of business as usual for their business interests falls little short of treason.
This bullshit fantasy world has got to be some alternate universe, because without ubiquitous and inexpensive broadband internet access, this pig will not fly. Try to estimate what proportion of internet traffic will be spam, viri, and worms in the next ten years, when in the past five years such crud has increased by a factor of ten. A dial-up connection to the internet is already "painful" -- in ten years it will be like trying run a 10K marathon via handstands.
Slashdot Mirror
"MS would be best off not suing under the DMCA, seeing as the SCOTUS was pretty firm in the Lexmark case about the DMCA not extending to interaction between components."
Interesting thought, but wrong IMHO. The DMCA is protected not only by DRM these days, but also by the US PAtriot Act. Microsoft doesn't need to sue someone who sets up a website that publishes DRM cracks any more. The same C&D letter to the website administrator can now be CCed to the DoJ, who will use criminal "conspiracy to commit" charges (or worse). The current regime in power is in lockstep with the **AA in regarding copyright violators to be (practically speaking) "terrorists".
"But I don't think we'll ever find something that is just "perfect", more of a never ending quest to find the better one, and to stay on top of all the ones from the past."
Actually, there is. In the "hardware" world of electronic circuit design, there has been a migration toward machine-designed circuits based upon AI software. VHDL (Very Highlevel Definition Language), used to define programmable chips as well as PCBs, has evolved -- look at the "SystemC" project.
It is not too great a "reach" to predict that software design will follow the same roadmap. Given enough CPU power, program and data storage space for the software to function properly (which gets cheaper & better every year), machine-designed software using AI will replace (most of) that of human programmers. Once the current trend of offshore outsourcing "mundane" programming projects becomes too expensive due to rising Indian and Chinese wage pressure, the AI machines will take over. It is IMHO inevitable.
Software debugging will become far too complex for mere human intervention, so the AI machines will handle all of that as well. "Humans make mistakes, machines do not" will become the new project management mantra. But the joke will be on them, because even project management positions will be at risk.
SKY-NET is still, relentlessly, coming...
Well, it isn't as if such things have not happened before, particularly with Lockheed-Martin as NASA's contractor. I seem to recall that a previous $250 Million USD Mars orbital probe was turned into Mars "deep geological probe" when the units of measurement (Imperial & metric, or SI & metric?) were mixed between the flight and orbital software routines. Different software functions built by different sub-projects without adequate overall engineering management was apparently to blame. NASA's management should have caught the error even if Lockheed-Martin management didn't.
Hopefully, that particular embarassing lesson will not need to be re-learned.
Whom is kidding whom?
Of course the university is connected with the bookstore -- the university IS ALWAYS connected with the bookstore -- it is yet another source of revenue, not unlike the percentage the university takes from all payphones on campus. As a geographic and organizational entity, the university decides which vendors are allowed on campus.
In academia, particularly university academia, there is great pressure to either write, or contribute to, the textbooks and course material used -- hence the tenet "Publish or perish!". A large number of teaching professors do write their own course material, and the university bookstore is the primary distribution point for their work. The professor makes money, the university makes money, the bookstore makes money, and the publisher makes money. Considering the quantity of each textbook published, is it any wonder that a student can easily spend 25% of his/her annual tuition on textbooks and course materials?
A switch from printed books to e-books might make environmental sense as well as economic sense, if only there was no 5 month TTL (time to live) and EULA. And considering the difference in cost between the two formats, a mere 33% discount is legalized extortion (or highway robbery, but without the mask).
"I think most economists would say a gas tax (or more generally, a carbon tax) is the most efficient way to spur adoption of renewable energy sources. Otherwise, you're hoping the government can pick technological winners and losers."
Gee, I wonder which part of the energy industy you are lobbying for?
(!OIL + !CARBON + RENEWABLE) = (H2 + NUCLEAR)
Since you don't care for any additional funding to American farmers or agribusiness, and favor a "carbon tax", renewable energy such as ethanol/methanol/biodiesel would not be in your option list. A non-carbon H2-based energy economy must rely, based upon unit energy cost, on nuclear power plants to generate the electricity necessary to split H2O. Currently, most H2 production in the USA is based upon cracking petroleum rather than using nuclear poweered electrolysis, due to the costs involved.
Widespread use of solar energy, such as PVs (PhotoVoltaics), is not a viable substitute in the USA because it is too "populist" -- eliminating centralized control of energy is not in the best interests of the big energy companies. This is also why the Bush Energy Bill focuses most resources on more nuclear power plants and centralized H2 energy distribution.
The single biggest problem with nuclear energy, that has ALWAYS existed with nuclear energy, is how to dispose of the highly toxic radioactive waste that will continue to threaten the environment for 50,000 years. The current regime in power is not troubled by such issues, because they are focused on short- and mid-term profits and not long term liabilities. (IMHO, they are also counting on the "2nd Coming" to make the disposal of nuclear waste a non-issue.) More nuclear plants also means more nuclear waste, as well as more sensitive targets for the growing terrorist threat.
The very thing that Dubya&Co objected to regarding the Kyoto Accords -- placing an untenable drag on the USA economy due to much higher alternative energy costs -- would also be caused by a "carbon" tax and a rapid switch to a nuclear/H2 energy paradigm.
"Nothing worthwhile is left unguarded."
Absolutely!
Which is why the Dubya regime themselves basically "ratted-out" their real goals regarding the "war on terror". The USA put 140,000 troops into Iraq, which has lots of oil but had very little linkage to terrorism, but would not put 2,000 more US Border Patrol on the USA's borders to limit the incursion of terrorists mingled in with the flood of illegal aliens. The 9-11 Commission recommended 2,000 more USBP, but Dubya requested funding for only 200 more agents. Even Dubya's allies in the US Congress agreed with the findings of the 9-11 Commission.
While the USA is busy breaking international treaties left and right (Geneva Conventions, Non-Militarization of Space, the ABM Treaty), we are unabashedly militaristic in our enforcement of the UN Non-Proliferation Treaty in the DPRK (North Korea) and the IRI (Islamic Republic of Iran). How could that possibly be considered hippocritical?
"I can't say the same for Fahrenheit 9/11, for example. Perhaps it is important for the number of people it reached for whom its ideas were new, I'll grant that. But to the informed and interested viewer, it was little more than a rehash of world events through the prism of Moore's crazed psyche."
...". And it is now apparent that the Dubya regime cooked the intel on Iraqi WMD as their first and primary justification for our illegal invasion, war, and subsequent occupation (by UN standards) there. In a "crazy" turn of events, it also now looks like, after the USA's 2-1/2 year occupation of Iraq, Rice and Cheney's quotes in those video clips were absolutely correct, since no WMD have every been found.
Certainly, you have every right right to your perspective. Considering that the term "crazy" is a subjective comparison to what society considers a "norm", one might also draw the conclusion that those who would have been considered "crazy" only a generation or two ago are now in charge, not unlike the story about the patients taking over the madhouse.
Not one of the video clips included in the documentary "Fahrenheit 9-11" were "doctored up", including those of then NSC Advisor Condi Rice or of VP Dick Cheney being quoted as saying "... that Saddam Hussein (of Iraq) did not have and could not get WMD because the USA and the UN had such a stranglehold embargo on Iraq
The entire Dubya regime position about "bringing freedom and democracy to Iraq" was a major flip-flop from the position that this regime had embraced to justify this war to begin with. Which helps the reader to understand why the Bush regime did not have a cogent plan for subsequently either "winning the peace" or "reconstruction and pacification" in Iraq.
Osama bin Laden is still on the loose and causing trouble. The Dubya regime illegally stripped money and materials earmarked by Congressional budgetary process for the war in Afghanistan for the ramp-up to the war in Iraq. The GAO has discovered that more than $9 Billion USD has disappeared from funds earmarked for reconstruction in Iraq. And nearly 2 years after Saddam Hussein was captured, less than 15% of the money the Dubya regime claimed was necessary for reconstruction of infrastructure, and the creation of jobs for the Iraqi people, has been spent.
You don't suppose that these issues might have a bearing on the hostility that a majority of the Iraqi people have for our continued occupation there, as well as helping to push the country toward civil war?
And isn't one of the primary tenants of warfare the doctrine of "divide and conquer", which a full-blown civil war in Iraq would achieve?
Wouldn't the collapse of our puppet Iraqi government due to civil war bring new justification for the USA's continued (and long-term) military presence there?
Beyond (1) the geographic location and climate, and (2) the number of Americans KIA, in what discernable way is the Iraqi conflict so different from the Vietnam conflict of 40 years ago?
A film about emperor peguins cannot in any way be considered in the same league as a timely political ducumentary. I do note, however, that the major TV networks have focused a lot more on drudge "reality TV" programming, instead of devoting more time to exploring the real truth AND real-politik that effects everyone, like a soothing "soma" to placate the public.
Yes, but that really IS the point. The Dubya regime's loathing for non-politically correct (in their venue) science creates a spin that makes electricity from nuclear power plants pollution-free. Just like the conversion of hydrocarbon petroleum products into hydrogen for fuel cells is (NOT!) a viable long term solution, and an environmentally friendly advance in power technology.
The petroleum and nuclear power industries would like to thank you for continuing to support their monopoly status with your taxpayer dollars and consumer pocketbooks, as well as your failure to thoughtfully agitate for environmentally friendly and/or renewable energy sources.
Unfortunately, Huge-Ass Corporation already has the World Bank and the US government (NAFTA & CAFTA) on its side in this regard. Replacing municipal government services, such as water & sewer and road & facilities maintenence, with for-profit multinational corporate services is already on the agenda of every government beholden to the World Bank for their survival through loans. Forcing open competition for municipal services is the "not quite hidden in fine print" vigorish. The double-whammy to those same economies occurs when they are forced to accept American IP laws (like extended US patents on generic pharmacuticals) and the DCMA.
Of course, the Dubya regime already considers anyone who violates US copyright or IP patents to be terrorists. So any non-G8 member state that either encourages (or doesn't discourage) these violations can expect free extended vacations for their government officials or corporate lumenaries in such exotic locales as Guantanamo Bay, Egypt, Syria, or Turkey. The truth about Dubya's corporate national socialism sort of takes the wind out of the sails of those neo-Con(artists) that proclaim their love of, and dedication to, free enterprise.
The ONLY part of the Dubya regime that isn't run by completely brain-dead presidential appointees IS the Pentagon, which published a paper earlier this year that not only confirmed that global warming was real, but also has been trying to plan for the patrolling of the soon-to-be completely-devoid-of-ice Arctic Ocean.
They are, however, completely dependent upon the neo-Con(artists) in the Congress for funding, so they are still on a tight leash. Unless there is a substantial public backlash against the Dubya regime in the 2006 mid-term elections, this nearly universal Dubya regime aversion to real science in particular, and the anti-intellectual climate in general, will continue to hamstring America's future scientific prowness, regardless of Pentagon efforts to the contrary.
Well, I would proffer one current example -- that of US Senator (and medical doctor) Frist -- but he is "damaged goods", having been corrupted by the neo-Con(artist) agenda of "Intelligent Design", "Faith-based (Welfare) Initiatives", and "Better Business Through Government Welfare". That, and his "Save Brain-dead Teri Shivo At Any Cost, Damned-to-Hell The Physicians Involved and The Conservative Judges Who Refuse To Be Activist-Conservative-Judges" initiative.
So, I guess you are correctamundo. You could say that the very worse thing to happen to American jurisprudence and the US Congress is the shear number of lawyers who are congress-critters.
I would place "loving Microsoft" right up there with "priests loving alterboys", "MJ loving little boys in PJs", the "leather & chains crowd loving S&M", and "Gollum loving the One Ring".
/. crowd that favor the adrenaline rush that comes with the danger of having sex in a public place. Just don't confuse love with sex, nor respect and admiration with business accomidation.
MSFT doesn't deserve "love" per say, but does deserve the respect one would give to a coiled rattlesnake, or to a stick of dynamite sweating nitroglycerin in the hot summer sun -- dangerous and unpredictable enough to threaten your (company's) health. MSFT is an unrepentant convicted monopolist with deep pockets, a battalion of lawyers, and owns (or rather leases) the ears of many a politician.
But, I guess there are a (very) few among the
I'm sorry, but exactly which DHS server are you posting this from?
/. are becoming more and more conspiracy oriented each day." With good reason IMHO.
Even a delusional paranoid can be right, sometimes, that others are out to get him/her. One of the basic problems with liberty and open democracies is that they are reliant upon each other. The regime currently in power in the USA has shown an affinity for (1) ignoring international treaties and laws, (2) instituting draconian and repressive domestic laws (eg. US Patriot Act), and (3) embracing government secrecy (now SOP) as a cloak for all their policies and actions, even to the point of restricting Legislative and Judicial branch oversight. These are not the actions of a government sworn to preserve either liberty, open democracy, or the US Constitution.
That, in a nutshell, is why "The viewers of
(Now, I have the perfect thing for both your "headache" and your lack of "paying attention" to events around you -- a 2x4 smack up between the eyes.)
#*^!~#$%@**#
You're welcome.
Another way to look at this: From the perspective of law enforcement use of sections of the US Patriot Act, is that Rackspace could have furnished either (1) access_log_files or (2) a snapshot of the Indymedia servers, and no one in the public would have been aware of what happened. But, with Rackspace's more "conservative" interpretation of the requested information by law enforcement, the Indymedia servers were shut down and law enforcement "interest" became public knowledge.
Some elements of the US PAtriot Act are downright fascist stormtrooper tactics, and the threat of imprisonment for revealing aspects (or even the existance) of a government investigation fits that description to a "T". The question is: "Would you rather know about such events, or remain in ignorant bliss?"
And there came a great disturbance in the force -- as though millions of embedded applications were suddenly extinguished forever.
Well, thank goodness that there ARE other chipset OEMs to work with other processor OEMs. Intel(TM) is a silly rabbit to relinquish ANY part of their domain, because that is (invariably) where their next marketing threat will (HAS!) come from.
Intel(TM) rationale for such a move is bogus -- Intel and Microsoft (as monopolists) are not unlike a pulsar -- one (star) without the other (star) is just another boring (radio) source, without the (marketing?) glitz. And yes, MSFTs DRM and Intels TPM comprise the pulsar "star" that most consumers are predestined for...
Some while back, I was working as a sub-contractor to a contractor working at a government facility. Due to some needed new features and security holes, it was decided that all the Cisco routers would be upgraded to a new IOS. The work was scheduled for a weekend when the entire facility would "go quiet". The planning was immaculate -- with time alloted for each router IOS upgrade, time set aside for new IOS patches, and reloading the working data. Through some rather long weekend hours, the Cisco router upgrades went smoothly and efficiently. Only the lead technician (for security reasons) was to go around and reload the working data (router tables) -- which is when the most basic of problems rose up and bit this "weekend project" in the ass.
All the routers were then required to be rolled back to the old IOS, IOS patches, and the router tables reloaded until the following "long lost weekend". It turns out that the new Cisco IOS had a bigger memory footprint than the original, and with the new patches applied there was not enough memory to completely load the router tables.
Check the memory requirements of the new IOS, patches, and router tables prior to proceeding, and install more memory as needed. And if you are fortunate enough to have a spare router to test the upgrades on prior to the main rollout, test there first.
YMMV
"What happened in this case was that a security firm tried to stop their employees from organizing by prohibiting them from meeting outside work. It has nothing at all to do with professionalism or the image of the company. The only reason for the rules was to stop workers from organizing."
Parent poster is right on target!
One needs only to look at what the Bush administration has done with the TSA (Transportation Security Administration). The security personnel that were hired for airport security, as Federal employees, have made repeated attempts to organize/unionize under the aspices of the Federal Employees Union. This has been resisted by the Bush administration in the DHS, the courts, and in the Congress by threats to "privatize" the TSA workforce to civilian government contractors. Which IMHO is a major mistake, since it has been private security contractors hired by the airports that repeatedly failed FAA security checks prior to 9/11/2001, even to the point of prohibiting FAA investigators from stepping foot on airport property.
The same administration attitude can be seen in the Bush White House budget for new US Border Patrol agents who are, by the way, already organized in a union. Bush requested money for 200 agents over the next five years, while a Congress sick of Dubya's "open borders" policies earmarked funds for an additional 2000 USBP agents.
Dubya seems to prefer a cornucopia of funds for defense industry contractors, but little for actually increasing the number of Federal employees. The focus on contractors' high tech solutions has resulted in a $500 Million USD scanner for seaport detection of nuclear materials that is best suited to detecting clay-based kitty litter. And UAV's drafted into temporary service by the USBP for detection of illegal aliens crossing our borders, but not for the "boots on the ground" for actually interdicting such incursions.
"By the way... what's "low broadband"?"
Most appropriately, the term "low broadband" should refer to the ADSL/DSL service offered by the telcos. Reliance (at least within the USA) of POTS wiring that the telcos refuse to guarantee beyond a 28.8 kbps for ADSL/DSL service is ridiculous. Factor in the distance from the telco's CO (Central Office), which cannot exceed 18,000 feet, and you have just defined the parameters for "low broadband", which in my experience can be a download speed as low as 75 kbps at the equivalent of an excessive price.
Every other ISP (besides the local telco) that has tried to offer me ADSL/DSL service gets asked the same question -- "If you are not running your own POTS wiring to my home, how can you guarantee any better bandwidth than what the telco offers (but also cannot deliver)?"
Unfortunately, "low broadband" is a term that has been spun (by ISPs) to mean the caching and compressing of websites on their proxy servers to give dial-up internet users the appearance of greater download speeds. BT, cvs, ftp and other file download protocols do not get sped up by this technology.
Okay, so this study was done in the UK. But the UK has (largely) adopted the USA's management style. Which is to say, those domestic IT jobs that have not already been offshore outsourced, or (IMHO even worse) filled by imported foreigners at lower wage and benefit level, face increased pressure to "do more with less" -- more hours and expanded job functions with less staffing and resources and wages.
Many of the USA's IT workers feel "unrequited love" for the work they do -- where IS the love?
No doubt, many of the the UK's IT workers feel similarly.
Well, thank goodness that the US Supreme Court "elected" George W. Bush as President in 2000, since he "...is a uniter, not a divider".
And thank goodness that the illegal actions (Iran/Contra) and dirty political tricks (Watergate Breakin) of the Executive branch under previous Republican administrations has not been outdone 1000x over by the current regime in power.
And if no one talks about these issues in the press (letters to the editor), cannot publically protest without being arrested or shunted off away from the press, or all the publicized political "town meetings" guests have all been vetted as party loyalists, or that the foreign press pays more attention to the wrongdoings of the regime in power than the USA's consolidated corporate press -- hey, everybody will just calm down, sit in a circle holding hands, and singing "Kumba Ya", right?
The current regime in power is hurting America, and I would have little problem enumerating a rather long list from the top of my head. Discussing these issues does not make them worse IMHO, because democracy and love of liberty is aided by an open and public discussion. Supressing freedom of speech and the free exchange of ideas is the handmaiden of tyranny. Get a grip, and deal with it.
"But if they have evidence to justify such an imprisonment, then what possible excuse can there be for not putting him on trial with it?"
You have hit upon the crux of the situation. Many Arab-Americans and Arab legal residents of the USA were rounded up after 9/11/2001 as "material witnesses" -- IMHO a convenient catch-all to imprison, intimidate, and interrogate "persons of interest" without regard to the US Constitution's guarantees of citizens' rights. There is also no reason to believe that this is not still happening, albeit the techniques the Dubya regime employs have gotten more devious. Whisking "persons of interest" illegally out of the country to friendly nations where methods of interrogation not permitted under US law can be used has been adopted. Even the USA's NATO allies (eg. Italy) now consider certain of Dubya's intel agencies to be breaking their laws in this regard. Italy has drawn up a list of suspected CIA agents who were actively involved in the illegal kidnapping and deportation of an Arab cleric from Italy to (apparently) Egypt.
The Federal case against Jose Pedilla may not meet the evidentiary level of confidence to bring this "person of interest" to trial. Jose Pedilla might be providing the Dubya regime further information regarding the activities of terrorist networks within the USA and abroad, which would qualify him as a "material witness". A more cynical (tin hat brigade type) might consider the Dubya regime's treatment of Jose Pedilla as an issue too sensitive to prosecute, for fear of turning him into a counter-culture martyr.
The sketchy background information that was released to the press would indicate that Jose Pedilla is a Mexican-American who converted to radical Islam while serving time in prison for a felony conviction. Considering the number of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans living within the USA, and the policy agenda espoused by President George W. Bush (open borders, amnesty, guest-worker program, Social Security benefits for illegal aliens), prosecution of Jose Pedilla might expose the fallacy of those policies, as well as the potential to breed additional copycat (alleged) terrorist plots.
Those persons who do have enough information to make a more informed decision regarding the validity of the case against Jose Pedilla, or the possible reasons for holding him incommunicato without any publically scheduled judicial action are not talking -- at least to the press.
I don't have my calculator handy -- how many DoE "sunshine units" are there in 1.0000 gumdrops?
"Oh do stop panicing, this will be cracked, and easily, if it has not already been done."
Well, lets see. The new Intel processor & chipset that Apple will be using BOTH have TC/DRM capabilities. Ever try to use a 32-bit logic analyzer on a Wintel motherboard between the processor and the southbridge chip? Apple will make use of the Intel roadmap for 64-bit processors, and many of the data circuits will be on inner layers of the motherboard. Those persons capable of hacking the hardware DRM will own some very expensive hardware.
The real test for the extent to which Apple will impliment DRM will be whether they switch from OpenBoot, as used on todays PPC hardware, to Intel's EFI BIOS replacement. Intel can basically offer Apple the entire system chipset -- EFI, processor, south & north bridge chips, and their built-in video controller. Apple can make use of the Intel "solution" to lower hardware prices while increasing system speed (and profit margins).
The boot process may look like the following:
(1) EFI contains S/Ns of motherboard & chips
(2) EFI validates hardware function/configuration
(3) EFI checks date/time against stored values
(4) EFI generates private RSA key
(5) RSA key passed to TC chipset
(6) EFI loads OS bootstrap
(7) OS bootstrap compares kernel checksums against stored values, then loads OS
(8) OS validates stored checksums for applications
(9) OS validates media files for permissions
(10) OS uses private RSA key to unlock media file
The DRM capabilities of the Intel solution will allow Apple to control not only applications and the various purchased media files, but will also permit iron-clad trial period or rental media control. As a content provider/distributor, why wouldn't Apple want to make content media easy for the consumer to use, and very difficult/impossible for the consumer to abuse? In what way would Apple not benefit their bottom line, as well as gain acceptance from the **IA for any/all content distribution?
Apple generally does what is best for Apple, rather than what is best for their customers. But you can be assured that they will do so with such panache that most of their customers will not mind. And their customers will definitely like higher performance hardware for a cheaper price, as usual.
"Actually the dramatic increase in illegals living in the US has been caused by implimenting your desires as stated above."
Sorry, but I am going to have to call this total bullshit. H. Ross Perot was absolutely, unequivocally correct when he stated that "...with the passage of NAFTA, Americans were going to hear a great sucking sound as jobs moved south." Every bit of the follow-on NAFTA provisions that would have helped "level the playing field", such as a guaranteed minimum wage, benefits, and proper environmental concerns were all ruled illegal by the WTO. Then Mexico defaulted on their World Bank and other foreign debt, which the USA (to avoid a revolution on our southern border) loaned/gave money to Mexico to bail them out. A number of the factories that moved to Mexico experienced some labor union organizing efforts, so the Mexican workers were fired and Chinese workers were imported. Others simply packed up and moved their factories to China.
The Clinton administration, in 2000, prosecuted over 300 American businesses for knowingly hiring illegal aliens. When Dubya took office, he pledged to MX President Fox that he would grant amnesty for illegal aliens, establish a worker visa program, and extend SS benefits to those granted amnesty. Even after 9/11/2001, Dubya continued to maintain the very same policy objectives (, including an open border). Post 9/11/2001, illegal immigration across (primarily) the USA's southern border increased by more than 33%. In 2003, the same year that the USA went to war in Iraq, the Dubya regime prosecuted only 13 employers for knowingly hiring illegal aliens, even though the number of illegal aliens within the USA jumped in five years from 14 million to over 20 million.
The Dubya regime likes illegal aliens. The jobs that American corporation don't offshore outsource, they are busy filling with L1-A and H1-B visa holders. The illegal aliens are filling the same function for low wage and blue collar jobs here. The purpose is (1) to destroy the labor unions, and (2) to force American wages low enough to compete with China and India.
The neo-Con(artists) that control the Executive and Legislative (and soon Judicial) branches of government continue to chip away at American civil liberties, proportedly to "fight terrorism". But they risk their political future AND their freedom by continuing to "play dumb" regarding the flood of illegal aliens across the USA's borders. The next major domestic terrorist attack will prove that their "war on terror" was a smokescreen. No terrorist would ever get away with using boxcutters to take control of a commercial aircraft again -- everybody now knows how to foil such an attack. Yet our borders and seaports remain largely unguarded, five years after "Saddam bin Laden" got the attention of our leaders. Their failure to act promptly and decisively to safeguard this country's safety and sovereignty in favor of business as usual for their business interests falls little short of treason.
"It's an opinion, a different view of the world."
This bullshit fantasy world has got to be some alternate universe, because without ubiquitous and inexpensive broadband internet access, this pig will not fly. Try to estimate what proportion of internet traffic will be spam, viri, and worms in the next ten years, when in the past five years such crud has increased by a factor of ten. A dial-up connection to the internet is already "painful" -- in ten years it will be like trying run a 10K marathon via handstands.